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By James Konstantin Galvez, Reporter
The light rail lines 1 and 2 can take on more
passengers, an official said Tuesday as the number of commuters
increased because high fuel prices are forcing people to use their
private automobiles less.
Administrator Melquiades Robles of the Light
Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) added that the queues onto the train
platforms do not extend to the staircase, as had been reported.
“While it may be true for other carriers,
overcrowding in the trains and that kind of queuing will not happen
with our Line 2 system and is no longer the case for our Line 1
system after we had our capacity expansion,” Robles said in a
statement.
Line 1 extends from Baclaran to Monumento, while
Line 2 is from Recto to Santolan.
Some 16 coaches run on Line 2 and can carry up
to 730,240 passengers daily. On July 4, that line carried 219,995
people—the highest since the start of commercial operations in
2003.
Line 1 system has 139 coaches that can be
configured into three- or four-car train combinations depending on
passenger demand.
“It can carry as much as 1,309,680 passengers
per day or 38,520 persons per hour per direction,” Robles said
referring to Line 1. “The highest ridership count for the month
was also on July 4, with 475,891 passengers.”
“Even if our ridership for all line systems
will increase by 50 percent, we can still absorb the additional
passengers,” he added.
Robles said the authority had earlier predicted
the surge in train commuters, which is why they had hastened the
rehabilitation of all inoperative trains. Some of those were out of
service for 15 years.
He said he also pushed for the capacity
expansion of Line 1 from 27,000 persons per hour per direction to
40,000—or a total of 1,360,000 passengers per day—to cope with
the present and future increase in passengers.
“Ridership capacity of the LRTA lines is
unprecedented. It is in fact the biggest riding capacity. Our Line 1
is even poised to expand from Monumento to SM North EDSA [which
closes the loop around Metro Manila] even without the need to
acquire additional trainsets,” Robles said.
Plus, he added, all the authority’s trains are
air-conditioned, making passengers’ travel more comfortable and
less stressful.
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